Seminar

Incorporation of Unnatural Amino Acids for the Expression of Proteins with New Function

Ms. Jessica Torres North Carolina State University

at 10:40 Thursday Sept. 20

Refreshments at 10:30Provided by Chemistry Circle MMM 106

Living systems consist of a complex array of components and proteins that are essential

biomacromolecules and are involved in all cellular processes. Research has been directed towards the study of biological processes in live cells by using reporter tags. Tags allow for the detection of bio-molecules such as proteins and/or their metabolites as they move within different biological complexes. !"#$%&'$(")(*"+(,-',-.#",+*,/*0++.#0-.1*.2"+,*.("3&*into proteins, both in vitro and in vivo, is a promis-ing technology with tremendous potential to ad-vance studies for basic biomedical research. The technique allows incorporation of a vast diversity of functional groups that extends beyond the conven-tional mutagenesis of the 20 common amino acids. A wide range of studies is enabled by using unnatural .2"+,*.("3&*.&*4",'56&"(.1*'-,4$&7*$898*:0,-$&($+#*and spectroscopic probes, and functional groups for bioconjugation reactions. The ability to apply the technology into mammalian cells and model organ-isms can provide insights into answering biomedical questions relevant to human health.

These two alumni of the summer program in 2012 will describe their research experiences as part of the seminar.